MDGs funding mechanisms
The complexity of the development assistance financial architecture makes it hard for the layman to see through the concrete and practical functioning of the MDG process.
Who finances what MDG? To what extent can sovereign developing nations freely decide their development priorities? Are they free to say no to targets or agendas they are ideologically opposed to, or are they in practice bound by the MDG framework, even if this framework is informal? Are donations earmarked? Who coordinates and determines effective priorities? Are there control mechanisms?
Development is financed primarily by donor government agencies, either bilaterally or through multilateral agencies (IMF, World Bank, Arab Agencies…), regional development banks or the European Union (Europaid).
In addition, NGOs, businesses and a number of developing countries themselves are becoming increasingly significant sources of development aid. Special purpose funds, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation - GAVI (which includes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a member), the International Health Partnership+, the Task Force on Innovative Financing for Health Systems Strengthening, UNITAID, the MDG Achievement Fund have become important channels for some resources.
On a number of occasions in the last decades, developed countries agreed to give 0.7 percent of their gross national income to Official Development Assistance (ODA). But in 2008, they had only reached 0.3 percent. Let us take a look at the total ODA amount given by donor governments in recent years:
| Year | Total ODA amount |
|---|---|
| 2005 | $107.1 billion |
| 2006 | $104,4 billion |
| 2007 | $103,7 billion |
| 2008 | $119,8 billion |
According to the OECD, aid in 2010 will reach record levels in dollar terms after increasing by 35 percent since 2004. But according to the 2009 Report of the MDG Gap Task Force, donors are falling short by $35 billion per year on the 2005 pledge on annual aid flows made by the Group of Eight in Gleneagles, and by $20 billion a year on aid to Africa.
The reproductive health lobby is determined to put MDG 5 at the center of funding mechanisms. In so doing, it receives the explicit support of western nations, especially of the European Union and the United States under the Obama administration.
In her remarks on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Cairo conference on January 8th, 2010, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration had “pledged new funding, new programs, and a renewed commitment to achieve Millennium Development Goal Five, namely … universal access to reproductive healthcare… This year, the United States renewed funding of reproductive healthcare through the United Nations Population Fund, and more funding is on the way. The U.S. Congress recently appropriated more than $648 million in foreign assistance to family planning and reproductive health programs worldwide. That’s the largest allocation in more than a decade. In addition to new funding, we’ve launched a new program that will be the centerpiece of our foreign policy, the Global Health Initiative, which commits us to spending $63 billion over six years to improve global health by investing in efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality, prevent millions of unintended pregnancies, and avert millions of new HIV infections, among other goals. This initiative will employ a new approach to fighting disease and promoting health. It will address interrelated health challenges together, for example, by integrating family planning, maternal health services, and HIV/AIDS screening and treatment, so that women receiving reproductive care will also receive HIV counseling, and will be referred to an HIV clinic if they need one.” (1)
There is no doubt whatsoever that reproductive health and gender equality are priorities for global governance today, and that massive, priority funds are allocated to their programs.
© Marguerite A. Peeters 2010 – Permission needed for any public or semi-public use of this module.
Source:
(1) Hillary Clinton. Remarks on the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Cairo Conference. 8 January 2010.